VistaTek Certifications (.pdf)

The Journey to Becoming ISO 9001:2008 Registered

From its beginnings in 1996, Vista Technologies has taken pride in our attention to detail and making sure that things are in order. This was much easier to do when there were 4 employees, 1 rapid prototyping machine and a starting customer base of zero.

VistaTek has evolved from a rapid prototyping firm into a Rapid Tooling and Injection Molding company. Now individual orders are in the 10,000+ range for low volume production plastic parts. We felt that our quality was good, but good is not our mission. Our mission at VistaTek is simple: Outperforming Expectations. Outperforming Expectations for ourselves and our customers are key, and getting our Injection Molding Division ISO 9001:2008 registered was our way of doing this.

Some see ISO 9001:2008 as a marketing ploy to get it in place and put the certificate on the wall. This is notVistaTek's mentality. We believe that a system properly implemented keeps customers and employees happy.

Our journey started in June of 2009. VistaTek hired Steeves Quality Solutions (SQS) to consult us through the ISO process. SQS believes the ISO standard needs to fit into your system not vice versa. Granted there are procedural changes, but if the changes are drastic, then efficiency slows. Employees from top to bottom need to believe in the process to make it successful.

The beginning of VistaTek's ISO process included weekly meetings charting out what was already in place and what processes needed to be added/tweaked. Writing the production procedures went smoothly and seemed to have the least amount of change after implementation because key personnel that perform these tasks all day everyday helped write up the procedures.

By October, VistaTek's System Map and the procedures to go along with each step were completed. We went with a flowchart system for laying out our Quality Management System. We believe this philosophy is the most effective because it is easy to understand, follow, and go back for root cause analysis.

After 4 months of hard work, the light at the end of the tunnel was shining bright...not quite. Writing up the procedures was only the groundwork for everything else. Now we had to get all of the forms in place, write accompanying procedures like Corrective and Preventive Action, Internal Audits and Document Control. Initially, when writing up these procedures, we thought there would be a lot of griping (because I was) and it would slow down the process. After training and implementation took place in early December the griping and slow down didn't happen. Having the paperwork and procedures in place helped the whole process run smoothly from beginning to end. If there was a hiccup somewhere, it was easy to find the root cause and fix it.

Our Stage I audit by BSI was on January 4th, 2010. According to the audit, everything was in place. We needed to polish up a few things and complete an internal audit in the upcoming weeks for our Stage II, Final Audit on February 12th.

After embarking on the ISO process 8 months previous, we passed our final audit and our Injection Molding Division was recommended for ISO 9001:2008 registration.

It seemed overwhelming in our first ISO meeting back in June, but everyone involved took ownership of their roles, and the procedures have been running seamlessly.